http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/117/ARTICLE/1120/2008-01-08.html
Zimbabwe Guardian
January 8 2008; 16:13
The Mysterious Death of Charlene Makaza Part 4 (Final)
by Itayi Garande
The family
of George Evans Gwaze took care of Charlene, who was infected with the HIV/AIDS
virus at birth would like their story known before they are judged by the
media, the police or the world at large.
Here is the
last and final part (Part 4) of the story from one of Gwaze siblings:
Part
4 - The Final Part
Life
has to go on
That Thursday night on August 9, we
decided it was high time we put our story out there and for people to know the
truth about Charlene. We have always understood that we could never win this
battle in the media, but we have had enough mistreatment and discrimination. We
have always been confident that with truth on our side we will win this case
soon. We were very naïve, law in NZ appears to have little to do with facts,
and it’s more to do with perception. This is the same judicial system we have
to trust to bring justice to my family; we have no choice but to hope for the
best.
We are an African immigrant family
and I know that has played a big role. If Charlene had been a blue-eyed blonde
Kiwi child I doubt we would have been treated the way we are being treated. I
doubt her body would have been allowed to decompose in the morgue and offensive
statements made by the police and media would have never been made.
To this day the family struggles to
retrieve items seized by the police. The family’s computer which was in perfect
working condition is no longer working, police picked it up and had it fixed
but that didn’t last for long. We have asked that it be replaced rather than
have the police repair it endlessly. The video camera
has also been damaged, no replacement has been made. Some clothes and shoes are
still with the police; Nothando still has not
received her passport. The washing machine is yet to be returned. Nothando has been told that her clothes are being used as
exhibits, what for? The list is endless and unfairly the family has had to
spend a lot of money replacing items that the police are holding.
George is a tennis player and
frustrated that his training shoes had not been returned he called the police
and was told pictures had not yet been taken of the shoes. After months, they
were still holding his shoes simply because pictures had not been taken of
them. A large patch was cut out of Nothando’s front
car seat, the seat had a food stain and God knows what the over-zealous thought
they could find from the stain. The seat has still not been fixed; their
solution was that she buys seat covers to cover up the patch. These are just
some of the things we constantly battle with the police on a daily basis. At
least these are replaceable, what about the time and humiliation we have
suffered. My father’s reputation, career and character have been ruined. The
time we have lost cannot be replaced.
I pay tax out of my salary and it
pains me to know that tax payers’ money has been wasted on an unnecessary witch
hunt.
Today we face an uphill battle, with
most medical experts in NZ sticking together and no one is there to stand up and
be counted for the truth. We face a police force that rushed a case, made a
media fiasco of it and were under pressure to make an arrest. Evidence was
fabricated, we know this because it is clear that nothing, absolutely nothing
happened to Charlene. We even have a nurse saying she did not see the rectal
tear when Charlene came into the 24 hour clinic.
In an unfortunate twist of fate, a
number of child abuse cases have come up in NZ over the last couple of weeks. 2
days before my father's bail hearing, 3 men suspected of child abuse that led
to the child's death had been denied bail. I could see no reason for my father
to be denied bail, but with recent protests against child abuse one can only
think the judge refused my father bail to maintain peace. That's not good
enough. We did not assault Charlene and we should not get caught up in other
cases. This is an individual case and should be treated as such.
I know doctors did their best to
save her life but I expect much more from them-honesty and integrity.
Interestingly, is that statements from doctors at Christchurch hospital, all
have the same line at the end of the statement: “I did not insert any
instrument in Charlene’s rectum” To me that so called object that caused the
rectal tear is sounding more and more like a instrument used in a rectal exam,
together with the suppositories and underlying HIV infection, it was inevitable
that she would have a rectal tear.
New Zealand has one of the lowest
HIV infection rates in the world. Paediatric HIV/AIDS
cases are definitely not common here and doctors definitely have very little
experience with the disease. Their lack of understanding and experience with
the disease should be no reason for our persecution. I’d be interested to know
how many paediatric AIDS patients doctors at
Christchurch public have dealt with.
In his post-mortem report Martin
Sage mentions that the rectal tear was fresh and was not bleeding. Those
familiar with HIV/AIDS know that sufferer’s wounds do not heal and they always
appear to be fresh.
As mentioned earlier, at 10 years
Charlene was still bathed by my mother. With her vigilance when it came to
Charlene, such a rectal tear would have been noticed and Charlene would have
mentioned the discomfort.
2 of the doctors attending to
Charlene are members of DSAC, an organisation of doctors against child abuse
and notorious for creating child abuse where it does not exist. I wonder if
they receive medals for every case they report because they have destroyed the
lives of an innocent family.
I wonder how they all live with
themselves, having banded together to lie and fabricate evidence. Those
involved have given a bad name to police officers and the medical fraternity
which I’m sure both still have professionals with their integrity intact.
Whilst in Zimbabwe Charlene was on a
course of cotrimaxazole which she continued for 6
months after arriving in NZ. She was on a course of anti biotic for an ear
infection. If we could understand how the body works and why people appear to
be well just before their body is overwhelmed then we would have many medical
breakthroughs. Should Charlene have been in pain for longer in hospital for
doctors to believe that she was a sick child?
Charlene’s illness is no comfort but
as much as it is hard to accept the death of an innocent child, HIV/AIDS is
what killed Charlene.
I don’t understand why the police
and doctors would go to such lengths to pin a false accusation on my father.
God help us.
We won't give up
On August 29, the news we had been
waiting for finally came. My father was granted bail. We were elated and
relieved that now his life could at least be normal.
One of the bail conditions was that
he leave Christchurch as he would be an influence to
the rest of the family who are all witnesses for the prosecution.The
same "witnesses for the prosecution" used to visit him at least 3
times a week. Any influence would have taken place during those visits. My
father was to live with me in my little flat in Auckland. The rest of the
family can visit but they are not allowed to spend the night at my flat with my
father. All the same, it didn't matter. My dad was coming home.
I picked up my dad at Auckland Int'l
airport that Wednesday night. He looked a little run down and relieved at the
same time. During the drive home, we spoke about the injustices and you
couldn't ignore the hurt and bitterness in the car as we spoke.
I showed my father around my little
flat and told him he could use my bedroom while I slept on the living room
floor and I explained to him that my bed wasn't the most comfortable. He looked
at me and said, "for me, this is heaven. I spent
7 months sleeping on a foam rubber mattress with hardly any exercise." How
easy to take the simple things in life for granted. My uncomfortable bed was
now heaven for my father!
My father and I have learnt to live
together in our confined space. This year, I am exactly half my father's age
and he still treats me like a little girl. I wouldn't have it any other way. I
have the best landlords whose support has been fantastic and unmatched.
I admire my father immensely.
Despite what has been done to him, he is very strong and confident. Every day
he takes a 30 minute walk before going to the local library with a bag full of
his veterinary text books. He is confident that the truth
will ome out and he will get back to his
veterinary work and write his council exams.
Its not always easy especially with the
bail conditions. My father has to report to the police 3 times a week in
addition to daily police bail checks between the hours of 12am and 7am, his
curfew hours. At some point, police would come twice a night within a space of
3 hours. A peaceful night soon became a luxury as it was almost impossible to
sleep with the anticipation of that knock at the door. We are adjusting but it
makes life extremely uncomfortable.
It is almost December 26 2007. Time
has flown by so quickly. The previous year on 26 December Charlene and my
mother had taken an early morning flight from Christchurch to Auckland. I don't
know where the time has gone, we've spent the last 11 months in mourning, in
court, prison and trying to understand why anyone would want to do this to us.
Each day brings new challenges. It's
impossibe to make long lasting plans with the trial
hanging over our heads. Financially it has been aweful.
My sick mother is now the breadwinner and has had to go back to work to make
ends meet and pay rent and other expenses. My younger brothers and sister are
all currently studying. How do you concentrate with the immense pressure we are
under.
Everyday when I fold up my mattress
from my living room floor or when I look at my dad; I ask myself:
"Why?" All because someone wanted the fame of a
high profile case? Doctors fast-tracked a diagnosis?
Doctors and nurses are looking out for each other? The police botched up the
evidence? All I know is that every day with my dad we try and bring Charlene
into our conversation. I always leave a small piece of food on my plate.
Everyday my dad says to me, "you're just like Charlene, she always left food
on her plate." There is some comfort in talking about her and remembering
her the way she should be.
If only those who accuse my father
could see him everyday. This is my father, the man who makes my meals when I'm
tired after a long day at work. He even does the dishes! That's the gentle and
kind man we know.
Today, we pray for the truth to be
revealed. The hardest part is not being able to tell our side of the story.
Several people who have heard the truth from us and not what was reported in
the papers have expressed their shock at certain details that were deliberately
ommitted or twisted. For example,
the fact that a 20 year old girl was in the room at the time of the alleged
assault. When you hear the rest of the evidence then you will know that
we are dealing with corrupt, cruel and possibly racist police and medical
staff.
We never stood a chance to tell our
story. Charlene died on a Sunday and on Monday her "murder" had made
headline news. Police have made sure that they have tarnished our family name
so that any jury would believe we are tribal monsters who murdered Charlene.
Imagine that, a jury of all white Kiwis who probably only know Zimbabwe by its
notorious president. How many of them actually know what HIV/AIDS stand for?
How many of them know that African immigrants do not come from some village in
the bush?
I pray that one day someone who can
finally speak the truth can come out and speak the truth about Charlene's
sickness and how the investigation was botched up. I know there is a nurse, a
doctor or even someone in the police who knows the truth and the mistakes that
were made. My appeal to you is please, we have suffered so much for absolutely
nothing and you can help bring this to an end.
Not a day goes by that we don't talk
about Charlene. We talk about her as if she in the room with us. Everyday I
wish I could hear that squeaky little voice again, see that little brown face, hear her giggling as she watched Sponge bob Square pants. We
miss her so much. For 10 and a half years God lent us one of his angels. Her
name is Charlene.
The Zimbabwe Guardian sends their
prayers to the Gwaze family. Justice and truth should prevail and may Charlene
rest in peace.
Reader Opinions
Innocence • [email protected]
Subject: Evil, bad, mistake or whatever it is..
Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:23:59 •
I have carefully read the above
statement and I do sympathise with the Gwaze family
that such an incident happened in their family. Firstly with all due respect I
am not trying to support the police in any way but I do have faith in the
police as they are law enforcers and without them this world would not have
been at peace and they are there and will be there to serve and protect. The
second main issue here is that I appeal to you the Gwaze family to wait and see
the end of this case. I think we are all responsible for our actions and then
accountable for them. The accused shall be given the chance to defend himself
in front of a panel of judges and there will be other very important people of
other professions who will be there listening and in the end a decision will be
made determining wether the accussed
is guilt or not. The police surely are not taking any sides, you the Gwaze family are the ones who were close to Charlene and there is
no reason for the Newzealand police to like Charlene
that much that they want to see her uncle behind bars. There are investigations
and some evidence which the police would need to convince the courts that the
accused committed the offence. At the same time the accused has to defend himself satisfactorily to the court that he did not commit
any offence.
I can understand your bitterness and
you can write as my information about how much you cared for your niece as much
as you like but you have to agree with me that a trial has to go on. You also
have to agree with me here that there were other family members in the house
and they are not suspects only the accused which is a good thing and shows the
police are not victimising your whole family but they
have one target. I urge you to keep praying. We need to pray for the demons
that are out there to destroy our lives and we need to pray that justice is
done for charlene as well as
the accused. Dont cry over your destroyed or damaged gooods by the police as when the accused